Hendre Fourie finds fertile ground with adopted crop

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Fourie has got a lot more than what he bargained for when he came to EnglandDavid Rogers/Getty

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Neil Back, the former England player who now coaches at Leeds, is a big admirer of FourieCarl Recine/Action Images

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Martin Johnson, the England team manager, had no hesitation in selecting Fourie once he qualifiedAlan Walter

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Dylan Hartley is among the front-row forwards who benefit from Fourie's drive in the second rowDavid Rogers/Getty

John Westerby

Last updated at 12:01AM, November 19 2010

The trip to England was supposed to last for only a few months. After
finishing his IT degree, it did not look as though Hendre Fourie was going
to make it as a professional rugby player, so he opted to spend a few months
far from Burgersdorp, his home town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. He took
up an offer to play the 2005-06 season in England as a semi-professional,
with Rotherham Titans in National League One, before deciding his future
when he returned home.

But Fourie never quite got round to going home. He was 25 when he arrived